The Journal of Field Robotics seeks to promote scholarly publications dealing with the fundamentals of robotics in unstructured and dynamic environments. Articles describing robotics research with applications to the environment, construction, forestry, agriculture, mining, subsea, intelligent highways, search and rescue, military, and space (orbital and planetary) are encouraged. Papers in sensing, sensors, mechanical design, computing architectures, communication, planning, learning, and control, applied to field applications are encouraged.

The journal focuses on experimental robotics and encourages publication of work that has both theoretical and practical significance. Authors are encouraged to implement their work and demonstrate its utility on significant problems with emphasis on the underlying principles. That is, the journal encourages reporting on what was learned in doing the work, rather than merely on what was done. Also encouraged are comparative or meta-studies and verification of previously published results as well as reports of extended field experiments that seek to validate autonomous systems in representative environments. Systems papers are welcome but they must include analysis and insight into why approaches work and the challenges still to be addressed. Studies of systems that have been fielded over extended durations are encouraged. The journal will publish only articles of high quality rather than achieving a particular number of papers or a ratio of accepted papers to those submitted. JFR will not publish articles in which the experimental validation is restricted to simulation or controlled laboratory experiments.